Maurine Knighton, program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and Kerry McCarthy, vice president for philanthropic initiatives for The New York Community Trust, write how arts and cultural organizations in diverse neighborhoods deserve greater philanthropic attention and support.

According to Knighton and McCarthy, investing in organizations, such as Brooklyn's Weeksville Heritage Center or Billie Holiday Theatre, remove inequities that have an often unseen, yet profound, impact on society.

Both authors share research that shows investment in the arts contributes to educational outcomes and overall civic health.

Knighton and McCarthy also provides three steps funders can take to drive change toward more inclusive arts philanthropy:

Commit to achieving clear, concrete goals

Engage fellow funders and individual donors

Commit to collaborative action

The authors note that it is "time for philanthropy to get creative and correct the historical unfairness of arts funding." Read the Entire Article

Selected Grant News Headlines

A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.

Tulane University's Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation will partner with Venture for America (VFA) to host 2020 VFA Fellows along with leaders from university entrepreneurship...more

Ravi Sreedharan, Founder-Director, and Lopamudra Sanyal, Research Fellow at the Indian School of Development Management (ISDM), tackle the work and innovations by social entrepreneurs that continue...more

LISC is launching the LISC Rural Promise, a commitment to elevate the organization's impact in rural America. The Rural Promise will build on 25 years of LISC's investment in and partnership-building...more

A webinar interview of Dr. Shirley Sherrod, a cofounder of New Communities near Albany, Georgia, home to the nation's first community land trust, discusses the history of New Communities and the...more